Hard to say for certain, but the Davises sure seem like Morgantown’s first family of rodeo.

Three Davis boys and one Davis dad, all accomplished competitors in individual and team events. Earlier this month, 17-year-old Hunter and 15-year-old D.D. took first and second, respectively, in the All-Around Cowboy category at the Kentucky High School Rodeo Association state finals in Liberty. Luke, 13, is a past all-around champ in the Kentucky Junior Rodeo Association. And Hunter and Marvin, the boys’ father, are regulars on the professional Lonestar Rodeo circuit.

Hunter’s take at the state finals, especially, was among his proudest achievements yet. His winnings were a combination of season-long and event-only point totals, and Hunter says victory wasn’t guaranteed.

“It’s better on account of the way I came through with it,” Hunter says. “It kind of let me see that I could come through with it. ... It could be taken away from me real quick, so I had to really be on my toes.”

The guys probably need a horse or two to haul around all the belt buckles, hats, saddles, boots, jeans and jackets - and yes, money - they’ve accumulated as prizes over the past decade or so. Rodeo has become such a passion for the family that Marvin built a 20,000-square-foot arena on his Butler County farm that the Davises use for practice. They’ve got sponsors - Alliance Corp., Heritage Animal Hospital, Morgantown Bank & Trust and Green River Feed Mill - which Marvin politely asks be mentioned.

While the boys entered the sport at young ages - following their father’s lead, of course - Marvin was an adult before he was bitten by the bug.

“I was just out rounding up cattle one day and roped one and fell in love with it,” Marvin says. “The boys, it started out that they wanted a pony. I got them a pony and was leading them around. Then I got a horse to lead them around.”

And so it began. Hunter - a steer wrestler, calf roper and team roper who won two firsts and two thirds at the state finals, in addition to the all-around cowboy honor - was a natural horseman and showed early talent with a rope, Marvin says. D.D. leans toward particularly dangerous stuff such as bull and bronc riding, although Marvin’s coaxed him off broncs for the time being, after D.D. ended up unconscious once.

“I like the bull riding the best,” D.D. says. “I don’t know what it is about bulls, but I just love riding them. It’s the action and adrenaline.”

Marvin and his wife, Gidget, are aware of the peril involved in rodeo work. They’ve sent the boys to schools for professional instruction. And their involvement in the state organizations gives them a controlled environment in which to compete.

Besides, the Davis boys grew up with steers and broncs the way other families bond over baseball.

“You always worry when your boy gets on a bull or a bucking horse,” Marvin says. “Something could happen at any time. You worry about something like that, but it’s something they want to do. The rodeo is a sport that they want their dad with them at all times. ... It’s a family-oriented thing. They need you there at all times.”

The next goal for Hunter and Marvin is a top-10 finish in team roping on the Lonestar circuit; that would earn them a spot in the Lonestar finals in Alabama in December. It would be a suitable consolation prize for the family, who can’t afford the several thousand dollars it would require to travel to Farmington, N.M., in July for the National High School Rodeo Association finals.

Beyond that, the Davis boys all say they’re hooked on rodeo for life. Or, according to Hunter - who’s suffered a few bad spills as a steer wrestler and was once run over by a Marvin-mounted hazing horse - at least “as long as my body’s able to let me do it.”

— Daniel Pike is sports editor for the Daily News. He can be reached at 783-3271 or by e-mailing dpike@bgdailynews.com.